Electrical connector having integral wire severing means

ABSTRACT

Electrical connector, adapted to be crimped on to wires extending towards each other comprises a channel-shaped member having a web and sidewalls. Wire cutting means are provided at each end of the channel-shaped member on opposite sides of the longitudinal axes thereof, these wire cutting means being adapted to cut a wire positioned in the channel-shaped member when the sidewalls are bent inwardly and downwardly towards the web. Wires extending towards each other can thus be positioned between the sidewalls such that their entering portions pass besides a cutting means and their emergent portions pass through a cutting means. Upon crimping, the end portions of the wires are trimmed adjacent to the ends of the connector.

United States Patent [72] Inventors James Earl Marley Harrisburg; John Ambrose Ward, Carisle, both of Pa. [21 1 Appl. No. 797,083 [22] Filed Feb. 6, 1969 [45] Patented Oct. 5, 1971 [73] Assignee AMP Incorporated Harrisburg, Pa.

[54] ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR HAVING INTEGRAL WIRE SEVERING MEANS 5 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl 339/97 C, 174/84 C, 339/276 R [51] lnt.Cl ilOlr 5/10, H0 1 r 7/04 [50] Field of Search 339/95, 97, 97 C, 98, 276, 276 T; 174/84. 1 88, 90, 94; 24/129 W [5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,651,768 9/1953 Oortgijsen 339/276 T X 2,802,083 8/1957 Lape re U n 33 9/97 X Primary Examiner-Ian A. Calvert Attorneys-Curtis, Morris and Safford, Marshall M.

Holcombe, William Hintze, William J. Keating, Frederick W. Raring, John R. Hopkins, Adrian J. La Rue and Jay L.

Seitchik W ABSTRACT: Electrical connector, adapted to be crimped on to wires extending towards each other comprises a channelshaped member having a web and sidewalls. Wire cutting means are provided at each end of the channel-shaped member on opposite sides of the longitudinal axes thereof, these wire cutting means being adapted to cut a wire positioned in the channel-shaped member when the sidewalls are bent inwardly and downwardly towards the web. Wires extending towards each other can thus be positioned between the sidewalls such that their entering portions pass besides a cutting means and their emergent portions pass through a cutting means. Upon crimping, the end portions of the wires are trimmed adjacent to the ends of the connector.

PATENIEDUBI Sign 1 sum 1 UF 3 PATENTEDHBT 5I97| 3611.262

SHEET 2 OF 3 ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR HAVING INTEGRAL WIRE SEVERING MEANS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is frequently necessary, in wire splicing operations, to trim two wires which are to be connected in order to avoid the presence of an undesirable amount of slack wire in the vicinity of the connection. In splicing telephone cables, for example, the cable ends are arranged adjacent to each other and the individual wires in the cables are spliced by the operator or lineman. It is necessary to provide some slack or excess wire in the cable ends in order topermit the operator to manipulate the wires and place them in the connector or crimping tool when he makes the connection. Most of this slack or excess wire should, however, be eliminated when the connection is made so that the spliced portion of the cable will not be unduly bulky. In accordance with one known method of splicing telephone cables, the operator trims the wires immediately before fonning the connection in order to eliminate excess wire in the cable splice. In accordance with more recent methods of splicing telephone cables, a crimping tool is provided which trims the excess wire from the wire ends and crimps an electrical connector onto the trimmed ends when the tool is actuated as shown in US. Pat. No. 3,382,872.

The present invention is directed to the achievement of a connecting device having an integral wire cutting means which, upon crimping the connector onto the wires, trims the excess wire or slack from the wire ends. The use of connectors in accordance with the invention thus avoids the necessity of pretrimming the wires with a pair of shears in a separate operation and avoids the need for specialized crimping tooling having wire cutting means therein.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an improved connecting device for wires extending axially towards each other. A further object is to provide a connecting device having integral wire cutting means. A still further object is to provide a connecting device having integral wire cutting means. A still further object is to provide a connecting device adapted for use in the splicing of telephone cables.

These and other objects of the invention are achieved in a preferred embodiment thereof comprising a connector in the form of a channel-shaped sheet metal member having a web and sidewalls extending from the longitudinal edges of the web. First and second wire cutting means are provided at each end of he connector, these cutting means being disposed on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis of the channel-shaped member so that the wires, which extend towards each other, can be led into the connector on a noncutting side thereof and will emerge from the connector on a cutting side. The cutting means, in the preferred embodiment, is in the form of a pair of ears struck from the web and sidewalls of the connector which move past each other in the manner of a pair of shearing blades, when the sidewalls are bent inwardly and towards the web. When it is desired to connect two wires and simultaneously trim the ends of the wires to avoid the presence of unwanted slack in the finished connection, it is merely necessary to position the wires between the sidewalls and pull the wires axially through the connector until the unwanted slack is eliminated. Upon subsequent crimping of the connector with a relatively simple crimping tool, the end portions of the wires will be trimmed at the locations of the shearing cars.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view with parts broken away of an uncrimped connector in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of the connector of FIG. 1 after crimping.

FIG. 2 is an end view ofthe connector of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but illustrating the manner in which the wires are positioned between the connector sidewalls in preparation for a lead crimping operation.

FIG. 4 is an end view of a connector after crimping.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional side view of a connector in accordance with the invention showing the appearance of parts before crimping.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional side view on an enlarged scale illustrating the manner of trimming the wire ends.

The disclosed embodiment 2 of the invention comprises a connector in accordance with the general principles of the US. Pat. to Marley et al., 3,320,354, but having a wire trimming means in accordance with the invention provided thereon. The connector 2 is adapted to electrically connect wires 4, 6 which extend axially towards each other and comprises a sheet metal channel-shaped member generally indicated at 8 having a flat web 10 and a pair of sidewalls l2, 14 extending from the edges of the web. An insulating film I6 of suitable material such as Mylar polyethyleneterephthalate is bonded to the external surface of the sheet metal member 8 and extends axially beyond the ends thereof and upwardly beyond the edges of the sidewalls as shown.

When the sidewalls are bent inwardly and downwardly towards the web 10, the wires are forced into relatively narrow slots 26, 28 which are provided in lances or cars 18,20, 22, 24. These lances are formed from the metal of the web 10 and are shaped to provide an upstanding center portion 30 which functions to separate the wires at the time of crimping.

Downwardly extending slots 32, 34 are provided on each side of the ears 18, 20, 22, 24 in the sidewalls 12, 14 and the material of the sidewalls between these slots is inwardly and outwardly formed as shown at 36. Additionally, a stuffing ear 38 is formed in each sidewall midway between the slots 32, 34, the width of this stuffing car (as measured in the axial direction of the connector) being slightly less than the distance between the opposed faces of the cars 18, 20 and 22, 24 in which the insulation piercing slots are provided. The inwardly formed portions 36 of the sidewalls and the upwardly formed stufiing ears 38 have the effect of increasing the thickness of the sidewalls between the upwardly fonned cars 18, 20, 22, 24 so that when the sidewalls are bent downwardly and towards the web during crimping the wires will be forced well into the slots 26, 28. Midway between the ends of the channel-shaped member 8, the sidewalls are provided with relatively wide notches 40 in the disclosed embodiment which may be provided to reduce the force required in the crimping tool to bend the sidewalls inwardly at the time of crimping.

Wire cutting means are provided adjacent to each end of the channel-shaped member 8 in the form of a pair of cutting ears or shearing ears 42, 44 formed from one of the sidewalls and the web respectively. The shearing ear 42 extends substantially normally of the sidewall 14 and has a left-hand edge, as viewed in FIG. 2, which slopes downwardly and inwardly towards the sidewall 14. The ear 44, as best shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, does not extend precisely normally of a plane of the web 10 but is slightly overformed so that its left-hand upper edge 48 is disposed beneath, and slightly to the right of (as viewed in FIG. 5), the right-hand lower edge 46 of the ear 42. It will be apparent then that as the sidewall 14 is bent inwardly and downwardly, the edge 46 will pass extremely close to the edge 48 and a clean shear of a wire extending between these ears will be achieved. The ear 44, it should be added will normally be bent inwardly, that is to the right as viewed in FIG. 5 as the shearing operation is carried out as will be apparent from the description which follows.

The ear 44 is also provided with a pointed projection 50 on its left-hand side as viewed in FIG. 2 which is coplanar with the main body of the ear and which functions as a separator for separating, and aiding in the positioning of, the wires placed in the connector. This separating projection will also be bent inwardly and towards the web during crimping when the ear is bent in the same direction.

The cutting means 42, 44', 50' at the right-hand end of the connector as viewed in FIG. 1 is provided on the opposite side of the longitudinal center line of the channel-shaped member from the severing means 42, 44, 50. By virtue of this arrangement, a wire can be led into the connector on a noncutting side thereof and will emerge from the opposite end of the connector on a cutting side.

In use, the operator merely positions the wires 4, 6 between the connector sidewalls with the wire 6 entering the connector on the right-hand side as viewed in FIG. 1, and leading the connector through the cutting means 42, 44, 50. The wire is led into the connector on the left side and similarly leads the connector through the cutting means 42, 44, 50. The connector can then be crimped by relatively simple tooling to simultaneously force the wires into the slots 26, 28 and move the cutting orshearing members 42, 42' relatively past the stationary shearing members 44, 44'. A clean shear of the wires will be achieved at the time of crimping and the scrap wire 1 ends shown in FIG. 4 will fall from the sides of the crimping tool.

Alternative types of integral cutting devices can be provided on open U-type electrical connectors in accordance with the broad principles of the invention. The disclosed type of shearing means is particularly advantageous for stamped and formed electrical connectors in that the shearing members 42, 44 and the separating member 50 can be formed in the stamping die and bent relative to the sidewalls and web while the lances 18-24 are being formed. Moreover, the blanking operations, in which the cutting ears 42, 44, 42, 44' are blanked from strip stock, result in localized work hardening of the edges 46, 48 so that these edges are well adapted to perform the single shearing operation which they are required to carry out at the time of crimping. The overforrning of the cutting car 44 as shown in FIG. 4 and the bending of this car inwardly at the time of crimping is an advantageous feature in that there is no necessity to maintain an extremely precise relationship of the edges 46, 48 with respect to each other; it is sufficient if these edges are close enough to achieve the shear of the wire. Finally, it should be noted that the downward movement of the shearing member 42 has the effect of achieving a clean separation of the scrap wire end and urging it outwardly from the ends of the crimped connector so that it is easily disposed of.

While the invention is herein disclosed in an embodiment of a connector having insulation piercing means particularly adapted for use in the splicing of the wires of telephone cables, it will be apparent that the principles of the invention can be adapted for connectors intended for use with other types of wires.

Changes in construction will occur to those skilled in the art and various apparently different modifications and embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. The matter set forth in the foregoing description and accompanying drawings is offered by way of illustration only.

We claim:

1. An electrical connector adapted to be crimped onto two wires extending axially towards and past each other, said connector comprising a channel-shaped member having a web and sidewalls, said sidewalls being adapted to be bent inwardly and towards said web upon crimping, first and second wire cutting means on said channel-shaped member, said first wire cutting means being proximate to one end of said member and said second wire cutting means being proximate to the other end of said member said first wire cutting means comprising a pair of shearing edges on one side of the longitudinal axis of said channelshaped member and said second wire cutting means comprising a pair of shearing edges on the other side of said longitudinal axis, the shearing edges of each pair being movable relatively past each other upon crimping of said connector,

said first wire cutting means being efiective, upon crimping said connector, to cut a wire extending between said sidewalls and past said first wire cutting means on said one side of said longitudinal axis of said channel-shaped member, and said second wire cutting means being effective to cut a wire extending between said sidewalls and second wire cutting means on said other side of said longitudinal axis whereby,

upon positioning said wires between said sidewalls with the entrant portion of each wire on a noncutting side of said axis and with the emergent portion of each wire on a cutting side of said axis, and upon crimping said connector, said wires are trimmed at locations proximate to said ends of said channel-shaped member.

2. A connector as set forth in claim 1 wherein said first and second wire cutting means comprises ear means struck from said channel-shaped member.

3. An electrical connector adapted to be crimped onto two wires extending axially towards each other, said connector comprising a channel-shaped member having a web and sidewalls, said sidewalls being adapted to be bent inwardly and towards each other upon crimping, first and second wire cutting means on said channel-shaped member, said first wire cutting means being proximate to one end of said member and said second wire cutting means being proximate to the other end of said members,

said first wire cutting means comprising a first ear struck from said web and extending transversely with respect thereto on one side of the longitudinal axis of said member and a second ear struck from the sidewall adjacent to said one side, said second ear lying in a plane extending beside said first ear, said first and second ears being movable relatively past each other upon crimping said connector to function as a shearing means,

said second wire cutting means being structurally like said first wire cutting means and being on said other side of said axis,

said first wire cutting means being effective, upon crimping said connector, to cut a wire extending between said sidewalls and past said first wire cutting means on one side of the longitudinal axis of said channel-shaped member, and said second wire cutting means being effective to cut a wire extending between said sidewalls and past said second wire cutting means on the other side of said longitudinal axis whereby,

upon positioning said wires between said sidewalls with the entrant portion of each wire on a noncutting side of said axis and with the emergent portion of each wire on a cutting side of said axis, and upon crimping said connectors, said wires are trimmed at locations proximate to said ends of said channel-shaped member.

4. A connector as set forth in claim 6 wherein said first ears of said first and second wire cutting means have projections extending normally with respect to said web adjacent to said longitudinal axis, said projections serving to position said wires on said sides of said axis.

5. An electrical connector adapted to be crimped onto two wires extending axially towards each other, said connector comprising a channel-shaped member having a web and sidewalls, said sidewalls being adapted to be bent inwardly and towards said web upon crimping,

first and second wire shearing means, said first wire shearing means being proximate to one end of said member and said second wire shearing means being proximate to the other end of said member, said first wire shearing means being on one side of the longitudinal axis of said member, and said second wire shearing means being on the other side of the longitudinal axis of said member,

each of said wire shearing means comprising a pair of cutting edges in parallel side-by-side planes which are moved past each other when said connector is crimped onto wires whereby,

upon positioning said wires between said sidewalls with each wire entering said connector on a nonshearing side and emerging from said connector on a shearing side. and upon crimping said connector onto said wires. each wire is trimmed at a location proximate to the end of said connector at which said wire is emergent from said connector. 

1. An electrical connector adapted to be crimped onto two wires extending axially towards and past each other, said connector comprising a channel-shaped member having a web and sidewalls, said sidewalls being adapted to be bent inwardly and towards said web upon crimping, first and second wire cutting means on said channel-shaped member, said first wire cutting means being proximate to one end of said member and said second wire cutting means being proximate to the other end of said member said first wire cutting means comprising a pair of shearing edges on one side of the longitudinal axis of said channel-shaped member and said second wire cutting means comprising a pair of shearing edges on the other side of said longitudinal axis, the shearing edges of each pair being movable relatively past each other upon crimping of said connector, said first wire cutting means being effective, upon crimping said connector, to cut a wire extending between said sidewalls and past said first wire cutting means on said one side of said longitudinal axis of said channel-shaped member, and said second wire cutting means being effective to cut a wire extending between said sidewalls and second wire cutting means on said other side of said longitudinal axis whereby, upon positioning said wires between said sidewalls with the entrant portion of each wire on a noncutting side of said axis and with the emergent portion of each wire on a cutting side of said axis, and upon crimping said connector, said wires are trimmed at locations proximate to said ends of said channelshaped member.
 2. A connector as set forth in claim 1 wherein said first and second wire cutting means comprises ear means struck from said channel-shaped member.
 3. An electrical connector adapted to be crimped onto two wires extending axially towards each other, said connector comprising a channel-shaped member having a web and sidewalls, said sidewalls being adapted to be bent inwardly and towards each other upon crimping, first and second wire cutting means on said channel-shaped member, said first wire cutting means being proximate to one end of said member and said second wire cutting means being proximate to the other end of said members, said first wire cutting means comprising a first ear struck from said web and extending transversely with respect thereto on one side of the longitudinal axis of said member and a second ear struck from the sidewall adjacent to said one side, said second ear lying in a plane extending beside said first ear, said first and second ears being movable relatively past each other upon crimping said connector to function as a shearing means, said second wire cutting means being structurally like said first wire cutting means and being on said other side of said axis, said first wire cutting means being effective, upon crimping said connector, to cut a wire extending between said sidewalls and past said first wire cutting means on one side of the longitudinal axis of said channel-shaped member, and said second wire cutting means being effective to cut a wire extending between said sidewalls and past said second wire cutting meaNs on the other side of said longitudinal axis whereby, upon positioning said wires between said sidewalls with the entrant portion of each wire on a noncutting side of said axis and with the emergent portion of each wire on a cutting side of said axis, and upon crimping said connectors, said wires are trimmed at locations proximate to said ends of said channel-shaped member.
 4. A connector as set forth in claim 6 wherein said first ears of said first and second wire cutting means have projections extending normally with respect to said web adjacent to said longitudinal axis, said projections serving to position said wires on said sides of said axis.
 5. An electrical connector adapted to be crimped onto two wires extending axially towards each other, said connector comprising a channel-shaped member having a web and sidewalls, said sidewalls being adapted to be bent inwardly and towards said web upon crimping, first and second wire shearing means, said first wire shearing means being proximate to one end of said member and said second wire shearing means being proximate to the other end of said member, said first wire shearing means being on one side of the longitudinal axis of said member, and said second wire shearing means being on the other side of the longitudinal axis of said member, each of said wire shearing means comprising a pair of cutting edges in parallel side-by-side planes which are moved past each other when said connector is crimped onto wires whereby, upon positioning said wires between said sidewalls with each wire entering said connector on a nonshearing side and emerging from said connector on a shearing side, and upon crimping said connector onto said wires, each wire is trimmed at a location proximate to the end of said connector at which said wire is emergent from said connector. 